Flashback Just Observing, Round 2 (Solo)

[Xalet]

21st day of Fall, 510AV It ended up being quite fortunate for the Akalak to have fought first, as he in essence gained the longest resting period. The combatant he had been up against was an excellent example of a Squire. Strong, fast, and incredible durable. Whether Xalet had outmaneuvered him, or had simply gotten lucky, the purple Squire found himself going on to the second round of fights. As the other Squires battled for their honor, as well as for the thrilling sport of combat, Xalet was looked over by his Patron, whom had tended to the cut over his eye as best she could. There was almost no way to prevent the injury in becoming aggravated during the course of the next fight. "So, the idea is simply not getting hit." she said flatly. It was the only answer to a rather unreasonable scenario. "I will try." replied the Squire, seated heavily on one of the edges of the wall that surrounded the roof of the training grounds. Outwardly, Xalet did not appear to be enjoying the tournament, but inside a part of him felt the burn of the excitement of a contest. Xalet was competitive, even if he didn't voice his feelings. He could never hide from the very nature of his race, no matter how long he remained in Human society. There was no doubt that each Squire in the tournament felt a desire to win, but for Xalet it was a battle in order to keep that desire from absorbing every other aspect. Over the narrow shoulders of the Konti, Xalet could see the final match still in progress. There was a dark skinned Human man, and what looked to be an Isur woman. The Human was not faring well. In fact, there was a rather abrupt end to the fight when the man hit the ground and simply couldn't manage to stand to continue. "Hmph, I'm surprised they chose her to compete. Even with padding, an Isurian arm is essentially made from the hardest substance on the planet. I suppose it's due to her youth, perhaps it is not fully hardened yet." the Sergeant considered these facts as both she and her Squire looked on as the Knight in the middle of the platform pointed to the woman after shouting some words, causing half of the audiance to groan and the other half to cheer. "You'll be back at it soon enough, are you ready?" Xalet nodded and mentally prepared himself, and soon enough he was climbing back up onto the platform. It was to his luck he didn't have to combat the Isur, but instead a thin framed Human of great height. The lanky looking young man probably stood close to six foot four, but his weight couldn't have been anywhere close to two hundred pounds. One hundred and eighty was probably a more appropriate estimate. A light stubble covered his face, though he was clearly young enough to be unable to form a fully beard. Upon his shoulder was a strange tattoo, some sort of emblem it appeared, although Xalet could not get a close enough look. Looking over at Xalet he smiled, pointing a finger toward the large Akalak, and then swinging that same finger toward the ground.

[Xalet]

21st day of Fall, 510AV "Squire Xalet..." the Knight looked toward the purple Akalak whom stood quietly in his corner. Xalet acknowledged his Superior with a slight nod, causing the man to look over toward the one standing at the opposite corner, "Squire Klive." to which the narrowly built young man gave a thumbs up as a clear indicator of his preparedness. "You both know how this works, winner here goes to the finals. Have fun, stay safe, show honor. Ready? Then start!" the Knight quickly backpedaled away from the center of the ring, already having taken a wayward blow to the side of the head in a previous match. The men met in the middle with Xalet performing his standard hard stance, while Klive appeared to be content with a more relaxed open hand stance, his palms facing toward his near seven foot tall opponent. For a moment it appeared neither Squire had intended in making the very first movement, but before the crowd could call them out on it Xalet rushed in swinging. A quick roundhouse was easily evade, although he quickly tucked the same elbow in and came around with a backfist which was blocked in an open handed fashion. Klive's hand spun around Xalet's forearm and yanked it downwards, while the lanky competitors opposite hand reached around the back of Xalet's head. Pressing against his greasy, sweat riddled hair firmly, the Akalak was suddenly forced downward as his head was made to tuck, his body spinning around as he was brought to the floor heavily, his own legs coming right out from under his body and slamming heels first as they whipping in a full three sixty. "Wow what a maneuver!" one Squire called out from the crowd, whom were all impressed how effortless the entire ordeal was, considering the sheer weight that Xalet had on his side. Xalet didn't spend much time on the floor as he reached up with both arms gripping around Klive's closest leg. Swinging his torso up, he smashed his broad chest against Klive's knee and quickly performed a grounded takedown, sending the rather confident boy to the floor. The crowd seemed to be similarly impressed with the quick retaliation Xalet mounted, considering his previous performance where he barely managed to keep up in the first round. His Patron seemed quick to comment, "Hmph, when that young man gets warmed up, he catches on to the tempo of a fight very quickly. Making it past the first round was probably his best strength for fighting a second time." Another Knight stood nearby, and although he wasn't the Patron of Squire Klive, he seemed to know quite a bit about the boy, "Maybe, Klive wasn't given much of a fight in the first round. Recognize, no one has ever seen Klive so much as close a fist against an opponent, everything he does is with an open hand. It's a strange style in the Knights, but his Patron taught him well." Back on the platform, Xalet moved up to straddle atop Klive and dominant him with his size and weight, but Klive was extremely slippery, quite literally sliding straight through Xalet's legs before rolling forward up and onto his feet. In the exchange both Squire's had brought each other to the ground, but the entirety of their first connection with one another didn't even span the length of a breath. Spinning around Xalet met Klive's eyes, whom was giving him the 'naughty' gesture with his finger while shaking his head disapprovingly. For the first time Xalet took a slow breath in and grinned, the veins on his arms suddenly standing out brightly.

[Xalet]

Barreling inward like a charging bull, Xalet swung hard with a right, which was expertly parried by his opponent. In a fraction of a second his stance switched up, enabling him to snap a strong right round kick at chest level. It was all Klive could do to put his arms up and block the blow directly, but the weight of that meaty thigh literally sent the Squire backwards into the posts that framed the platform, almost sending him off of it completely. Looking to quickly re-engage with his purple adversary, Klive noted the motion of the stance Xalet had retaken, this time preparing correctly for the round kick. Sensing it appropriately he moved into Xalet's space, hooking his left arm beneath Xalet's right raised knee and jammed his cupped hand into the Akalak's thick neck, sending him downward to the ground with a loud and rather echoing thunk. Unable to prepare for the impact, Xalet's eyes bugged out quite noticeably as the air was driven from his lungs, and it was with great difficulty that he managed to finally regain his breaths, all while Klive began to manipulate the seized leg into some sort of standing leg lock. Xalet pulled his leg back suddenly, the sheer weight of the differences in their body types giving him enough of an advantage that he brought Klive with him. Attempting to raise his torso up to strike at the Human whom was now bending over slightly in an attempt to keep up with the motion of the leg he had finally seized, Xalet began striking with his fists in an effort to force his leg free so he could obtain a more advantageous position. As expected, a few blows even glancing were enough to cause Klive to re-evaluate his hold, however instead of releasing completely, the slender framed Human dropped into a roll as he gripped one of Xalet's punching arms, sweeping his feet down and across Xalet's chest as he began attempting to hyper-extend the Akalak's elbow. "Oh he's got him in the arm-bar, it's how the last match ended!" someone from the crowd shouted, causing the folks gathered round a cause for a great cheer. The match had been completely even, with either fighter unable to score a point until this. Struggling to roll his body over, or even get his arm away from Klive, Xalet felt the tendons in his arm beginning to reach their most taut, elastic state. The pain from his elbow was starting to make finding a way to reverse the hold very difficult, and by now Klive had locked himself around the wrist so tightly that it would have most likely taken a third party to get him to let go. Struck with his head between the thighs of the Human and his arm thoroughly wrenched in a most vulnerable position, Xalet was faced with the prospect of having to effectively tap out for the first point. It wasn't truly a strike, but the big man could find no way to effectively remove himself from the hold, and Klive could clearly tell this now, "Best be tapping. I'll keep pulling until it breaks." That phrase alone made Xalet want to resist and find some way to counter. That line of thinking would have costed him his arm, until... "Squire, give it up and come to me, we have things to discuss." the voice of his Patron rang out, attempting to talk some sense into him. At her command, Xalet turned his head toward the Knight presiding over the little event and nodded to him, "The point is his." The Knight promptly broke up the entangled Squires, "Stop stop! One point Squire Klive. Go to opposite corners and await my call.. Squeezing his fingers back and forth a few time as his arm was finally freed, Xalet could tell his arm was, at the very least, still in one piece. Kneeling down in the corner of his Patron he got an earful of what the Konti had to say. "His holds are superior to yours, Xalet, you must know how to break away and then beat him in a striking match. When you feel the arm trapped, fight to bring the wrist to your chest, bending the elbow as naturally as you can, while using your opposite arm to grip your own backhand. That will relieve the pressure and give you time to counter. I will accept this as my fault for not preparing you more formally to defend against wrestling style maneuvers." the attractive features of the Konti furrowed as she appeared to be extremely concerned, especially involving the very nature of the opponent Xalet was up against. "If you feel unable to provide a counter or escape, you must give up however. Those holds can cause significant damage to the body. Different damage from normal hard strikes." she made sure to impress this upon her Squire, whom appeared to reluctantly nod at her advise. No matter how he felt, he could never go against the will of his Patron, that was the code of his honor.

[Xalet]

"Alright, Squires up!" called the Knight, causing both Klive whom was leaning down to listen to his own russet skinned Patron to stand tall, while Xalet rocked backward from his kneeling position onto the balls of his feet, similarly standing up to his full height. His arm had recovered well enough, his Patron requiring him to submit before too much over-extension could be performed upon the limb. The fear was getting his arm in the same position twice, especially given the incredibly quick nature of this Klive. It was times like this he would have definitely preferred to fight someone like the boxer, where he could instead attempt to simply resist the blows with his own physical brawls, rather than have attacks that routinely subjected his joints to stress. "Start!" came the phrase, to which both Squires moved in on one another. Xalet snapped several jabs out, much like the boxer Duke had done to him, mainly to test his reach on Klive, as well as to determine if he could bait him into going for the arm. Klive was quite good at simply keeping his palms up to bat away any blows, while utilizing his narrow target area to weave around that which his hands didn't need to attend to. Suddenly shooting inward toward Xalet's legs, the Akalak quite literally jumped over the Human, although his right foot caught the Human's shoulder as he tried desperately to pick his feet up high enough to get up and over. Reacting quickly, Xalet rolled into his shoulder and utilized his forward momentum to come back up into a standing position, spinning around to face Klive once more. As Klive looked to slip back into Xalet's main body the Akalak caught him with a perfectly timed front kick, knocking the man back to the edge of the platform. Immediately Irine's Squire followed up, swinging a hard right to the body which connected solidly, causing Klive to hunch downward slightly from the meaty impact. As Xalet swung his elbow around to finish his opponent off Klive was trained enough to fight through the pain of the most recent attack and brought his hands up to stop the elbow with both palms, his hands quickly manipulating the arm into the start of a standing armbar. Xalet recognized the absolute priority to keep such a thing from happening and brought a foot up to stomp down on one of Klive's, but some quick footwork had Klive ducking straight around Xalet and wrapping his arms around the big man's waist. Trying to look for a target behind him, Xalet swung an elbow backward, but the attack was way off target. As his body torqued Klive felt the shift in his opponents momentum and drove a leg into Xalet's calf as he literally spun the large Akalak, still attached from behind. Xalet clamored to the ground with Klive on top of him, whom quickly shuffled around to grip one of Xalet's arms that moved in front of him to brace before striking the platform face first. Almost as quickly as the hold in the first round had been applied, Xalet found himself struggling to keep his arm from being peeled away from his body and put into a belly-down armbar. "Roll onto your side and grab your wrist!" Sergeant Irine shouted, which had Xalet quickly tucking one hip beneath himself while pulling his extracted arm inward far enough to allow his opposite arm the proper distance to grip his own hand. It was an odd 'self handshake' he had completed, but the strength of both arms fighting against the armbar was enough to keep Klive from cinching in the armbar straight enough. Breathing heavily, Xalet suddenly grunted with effort as he started to climb to his knees, drawing Klive in with him. Then, in a scene that was as impressive as it was strange, he literally stood with Klive still attached to his arm. "No way, he's standing!" someone shouted. Indeed, for a normal man such a thing would have been insanely difficult, but Klive was dealing with a race that not only was stronger pound for pound than a Human being, but a racial specimen that furthered his own natural strength through dedicated training. Like a falling tree, Xalet took a leap into the air, turning his body slightly to the side Klive rested on, and came down like three hundred pounds of potatoes straight onto the platform, causing the entire structure to shake and Klive to feel the brunt of the impact against his back, quite nearly knocking him senseless. The force of the blow was enough to cause a total slack upon Xalet's arm, allowing him to pull free and stand to his feet. Klive managed to get to his feet before shuddering and stumbling forward onto his knees, "One...point Squire Xalet!" said the Knight watching on, as surprised as the rest of the ground. Though not a typical attack, it was certainly something Klive didn't respond to within the count, and it was enough to put the accomplished wrestler on his knees.

[Xalet]

Coming down onto his knees and silently placing his palms atop the tops of his thighs, Xalet awaited the commentary from his Patron, "It wasn't pretty, but it worked. Grapplers like him typically believe that there is no way for a muscular man to train his joints, which is true. I make a similar argument however, that no matter how one trains, mass is mass. You are significantly heavier than Squire Klive, and if he thinks he can simply move you easily he'll find it impossible. It's simply the reality of size and strength, and a deficit someone whom hasn't trained their muscles for size must accept." Xalet nodded in agreeance. Outwardly he appeared to be in fine control, but inside he could feel his muscles starting to become exhausted as the event went on. Even if each round wasn't very long the opponents themselves were tough, and having to counteract so many different styles was troublesome. "Squires to the center." said the Knight, to which both Klive and Xalet prepared themselves. Klive apparently had to have some attention to the back of his head, which appeared to have been bleeding after the initial impact with the ground. Through some method of his Patron, the blood flow appeared to have stopped, and thus he was able to more easily continue with the match. Bending his waist outward and letting his back arch to the rear, the wrestler heard quite a few pops throughout his body, giving Xalet some acknowledgement, "You've got some beef to you. That sort of thing won't work twice." Xalet simply gave a simple shrug as both men prepared for the call, to which the Knight called out shortly, "Begin." Xalet rushed in and immediately landed a huge right hand to the side of Klive's face, or at least it appeared that way. The Human Squire didn't appear too damaged however as he rolled his face with the punch, swinging an arm up in an attempt to distract the Akalak. In response Xalet lifted his left forearm to block whatever type of attack it was, only to recognize at the end such a movement was merely a feint. Instead Klive followed up by drilling his shoulder into Xalet's midsection and wrapping his arms around the top of his Akalak opponent's thigh. Stumbling backwards Xalet attempted desperately to keep his footing, only to find himself spilling backwards onto the platform. Quite used to single-leg takedowns Xalet yanked his foot free rather abruptly, only to start spiking it at Klive in order to get the man back and away. From the grounded position Xalet had to remember some of his own wrestling training. Training that mixed with the striking arts of his unarmed combat. Keep his arms up, aim for the knees in order to push an opponent back, and when the moment presented itself plant one hand to the ground and pull one leg back to tuck a knee under his hips, then stand from there. The worst possible way to get back to one's feet was from the 'hands and knee's position, as it opened up potential strikes such as kicks and downward blows to the face and neck. Klive circled around, juking left and right in order to try and get Xalet to misinterpret his direction. All he needed was an instant in order to shoot in and get a dominant position atop of Xalet so that he could land some strikes and get the best of the three count. As of the moment, the count had stopped as both Squires were unable to find an attack that the opponent could not respond to. In one particular exchange, Xalet had found himself able to land a particularly solid blow to the knee, putting Klive almost down on one leg. That very instant was the moment he moved to get into the three point position and stand. Klive recognized the attempt and immediately went in for a single leg take-down similar to his first...only to end up on the receiving end of a knee strike straight to the jaw that put him flat on his face. "That sort of thing, won't work on me twice." Xalet commented, his first verbal dialog with another opponent since the beginning of the match. "Point Squire Xalet with two points to Squire Klive's one." the Knight recounted as Klive brought his hand to his mouth, making sure all of his teeth were still accounted for. One of the Knights that had been conversing with Sergeant Irine previously took the time to speak his mind, "That Squire of yours adapts very quickly, he's got some talent." "Not particularly." Irine seemed rather cold in her reply, but in truth she wasn't attempting to discredit her Squire, merely put the praise into the appropriate category, "Xalet has been a Squire for almost fifteen years. He has lost many fights, but with his losses his knowledge of his own failures has grown. I wouldn't be surprised if he's been taken down with that maneuver of Squire Klive's one hundred times in the past. He's simply managed to work out an answer on this hundred and first time."

[Xalet]

There was no way to shrug off the strike that Xalet had delivered. Despite his build, Squire Klive was a tough and resilient young man, but he couldn't help but spit out a mouthful of blood as he climbed back to his feet. Beneath him his legs wobbled slightly, but through training and the building of his endurance he managed to find his stance quickly enough. He would have his way with this Akalak he determined, one way or another. It was just a matter of finding an opening and locking him up. The big Squire could train his muscles, but he couldn't train his joints. Xalet in the meantime was getting some key pointers from his Patron, "Good strike, but why don't you use the kick like we talked about? On the ground it's possible that he might get an advantage and really cause some damage to your limbs. It's best to just chop him down with low kicks to the thigh and knee, then when he's weakened drive him to the ground." Those were probably the most tactically sound words from Irine's mouth all day. They made sense, but combat was fluid. The shape of a battle changed, and one had to adapt as to its flow. Still, Xalet would consider these tips. "Squires up!" called the Knight, whom quickly had both Squires ready on either side of him. Xalet's cut above his eye was looking quite ragged, but it seemed most of the dribbling blood had stopped by now, leaving a long dried stain hanging down the side of his face. Klive had time to wash his mouth out with some water, thought his chin had a deep gash in it, and the inside of his mouth was littered with cuts from his teeth impacting his inner lip. "Begin!" "Hhngg!" Xalet's deep voice grunted as he immediately moved to a forward stance and threw a low round kick. The heavy slap of the top of his foot impacting Klive's outer thigh rang out, causing the wrestler to pick his toes up from the ground in an attempt to remove some of the resonance. Xalet, seeing this brief change of balance crossed his right foot behind his left and shot his left foot outward with a ballista like side kick. The kick landed so hard that it nearly upended Klive straight from the platform, but the man's trained hands reached around the ankle even as it was denting his abdomen, pulling Xalet backward with him. Wrenching that ankle around, Klive sought to bring the Akalak to the ground and cinch that leg in an ankle lock. "Got you..." Klive thought to himself as Xalet began to stumble. Just when it looked like the Akalak was going straight to the ground he leapt his grounded foot from the platform and swung it around with a enzuigiri kick to the back of Klive's head. Landing hard on the ground with a heavy slap, Klive followed suit, first dropping to his knees before falling flat on his face. Rolling back on his left shoulder, Xalet was soon on his feet with a rear rolling stand, though he was the only one. "Stop stop!" the Knight called out, running over toward Klive and kneeling at his side. Snapping his fingers in the man's ear he attempted to rouse the Squire. The wiry built Squire's Patron climbed up onto the platform next, shouting for his pupil to wake up. After a few tense moments Klive did in fact come to his senses, causing the Knight to leave the Squire in his Patron's care. Looking over toward Xalet he proclaimed, "Winner Squire Xalet, 3 points to 1." The announcement brought out a small wave of applause, the most audible of which could be heard coming from his own Sergeant.

[Accolade]

Xalet

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Unarmed Combat	+ 5 XP
Wrestling	+ 4 XP
Acrobatics	+ 4 XP
Observation	+ 3 XP
Rhetoric	+ 1 XP
Body Building	+ 1 XP

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Technique - Defending against an arm bar
•	Technique - Rearward roll to the feet
•	Technique - The enzuigiri kick
•	TKO - Squire Klive

Notes :

Nicely done! Do tell me there is more to come? Alright, that should be everything, but if you think I missed something just let me know.

The Sylir has spoken

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can figure it out.